July 31, 2018

See the Mysterious Fake Facebook Posts that Targeted the Left

While eschewing firm attribution, the company noted the attacks were “consistent” with others linked to the Kremlin.

On Tuesday, Facebook announced it had uncovered a web of fake accounts and posts targeting Americans. While Facebook says it is unable to firmly attribute the influence campaign to Russian actors, the company has noted that some of the techniques deployed by the accounts are “consistent” with past attacks linked to the Kremlin.

The company has released 13 images capturing since-removed content pushed by the influence network, which seem to target left-leaning constituencies by variously promoting mindfulness, assailing Trump, and nurturing ethnic, racial, or gender identities. Posts with unclear or indirect links to politics may have been deployed by the accounts to build followers and status in Facebook’s algorithms that could later be harnessed to advance more incendiary messages.

This post has been updated with further context.

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